Lesson Plan: Writing Lyric Poetry

Author: B. Wu, Murry Bergtraum HS, New York, NY
Subject: English
Grade Level: 9-12

Overview:
This lesson is designed to help students review the literary elements in lyric poems. Through this lesson, students will be able to compare different types of lyric poems and appreciate them from different perspectives. They will also learn, through this lesson, how the stylistic techniques used in the poems help illustrate the theme.

Objective:
The student will

• Read and discuss the poem
• Recall and interpret facts and extend meanings
• Respond to critical opinion about the poem
• Analyze lyric poetry and the use of stylistic devices in a poem
• Discuss following themes in the poems.

Materials:
Poem" I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordworth , "I Hear an Army" by James Joyce, and " The Sky is Low" by Emily Dickinson, "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, "Women" by Alice Walker, "maggie and milly and molly and may" by E.E. Cumming, "Dream Deferred"& "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.

Procedures and Activities:

1. Motivation: Divide the class into six groups( 3-5 students in each group). Each group will read and discuss a different lyric poem. After discussing the questions on each work sheet, each group will choose a speaker to report to the class the following things about the poem and each group will be given a grade based on the presentation).
   • What's the title of the poem? Who is the poet?
   • What is described in the poem?
   • Who is the speaker (may not be the poet)? What's the tone?
   • Give two examples of stylistic devices used in the poem.
   • The best line(s)-the most beautiful, or impressive or vivid, etc.
   • Give one example of the unusual choice of words. Explain why.
   • What emotions are evoked? Use one word to describe the feeling.

2. Reading and response:

   Group One: " I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth

   I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
   That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
   When all at once I saw a crowd,
   A host, of golden daffodils;
   Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
   Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
   

   Continuous as the stars that shine
   And twinkle on the milky way,
   They stretched in never-ending line
   Along the margin of a bay:
   10 Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
   Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
   

   The waves beside them danced; but they
   Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
   A poet could not but be gay,
   In such a jocund company:
   I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
   What wealth the show to me had brought:
   

   For oft, when on my couch I lie
   In vacant or in pensive mood, 20
   They flash upon that inward eye
   Which is the bliss of solitude;
   And then my heart with pleasure fills,
   And dances with the daffodils. 1804.

3. (a)Discuss the following themes: memory, nature (b) identify and analyze the use of personification in the poem
4. Respond and answer the following questions:
   • Describe the scene the speaker suddenly comes upon in his wandering.
   • Find two similes in which the comparison is indicated by the word "as". In each simile, what is compared to what? What is suggested by each simile?
   • What effect does the scene have on the speakers while he is present? What "wealth" is he later aware of?
   • According to the speaker, in what activity do the flowers take part?
   • What was the speaker's mood before he saw the daffodils? How do you know?
   • Find three examples of personification in the poem. What human characteristics are given to nonhuman things?
   • What is the speakers" inward eyes"? Why is it the "bliss of solitude"?
   • Of what value to humans are natural scenes as the one presented in the poem?
   • Wordsworth once described poetry as "powerful feelings recollected in tranquillity". Explain how this famous phrase relates to "I Wonder Lonely in the Clouds".

Extension: Write a short poem that leads up to a simile that suggests your view of or feelings about the experience. You might begin with a simple literal description of the experience, and then use simile to convey its meaning. Be sure to let your imagination suggest an appropriate, effective simile.

Group Two: "I Hear an Army" by James Joyce

I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their
Knees:
Arrogant, in black armor, behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the
Charioteers.

They cry unto the night their battle-name:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling
laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.

They come shaking in triumph their long, green hair"
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the
Shore.
My heart, have you not wisdom thus to despair?
My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?

1. Discuss the theme: nightmares
2. Identify the use of onomatopoeia (imitation of sounds)

Discuss the following questions:

1. How do your moods influence your dreams?
2. Describe the army that the poet hears.
3. What has the speaker's love done to him?
4. Is the army the poet describing real? Explain your answer.
5. How do words like "plunging". "fluttering", "whirling", and "clanging" contributes to the mood of the poem?
6. A famous poet once said that it is easier to write about heartbreak than about happiness in love. Comment on this remark.

Extension: In Joyce's poem the speaker seems to be describing a nightmare caused by his great despair. Dreams, and particularly nightmares, can leave a very strong impression. Write a poem about a vivid dream or nightmare. Use words that appeal to the senses to create vivid images.

Group Three: " The Sky is Low" by Emily Dickinson

The Sky is low-the Clouds are mean
A Traveleling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go-

A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him.
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem.

Diadem: n. crown

1. Discuss the theme: nature and human nature
2. Identify the use of personification in the poem.

Discuss and answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think people so often interpret natural phenomenon terms of human nature?
2. Describe the scene in the poem.
3. What does " mean" suggest about nature?
4. What does "debates" suggest about the movement of the snowflake?
5. What impression of the wind do you get from lines 5-6?
6. Restate in your own words the meaning of lines 7-8.
7. How would you reply to someone who said that this poem is merely a weather report in rhyme?
8. Point out two examples of personification in the poem.

Extension: Write a poem in which you describe an outdoor scene. You can describe a day in the park, a walk on the beach, or a stroll down the city street. Use personification in your poem.

Group Four: "I Hear America singing" by Walt Whitman

I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics--each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and
strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat--the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench--the hatter singing as
he stands;
The wood-cutter's song--the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning,
or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother--or of the young wife at work--or
of the girl sewing or washing--Each singing what belongs to
her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day--At night, the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious
songs.

1. Discuss the following themes: the nature of work; individuality
2. Analyze the total effect of the poem, including the use of parallelism and repetition

Discuss and answer the following questions:

1. List at least five occupations of the singers in the poem.
2. To whom does each song belong? Explain. Are the people literally singing, or should "singing" be interpreted figuratively?
3. Explain the title. In what sense does the speaker hear America singing?
4. What does the poem imply about American worker?
5. Whitman is known for his love of democracy. Explain how the poem is democratic.
6. Describe the tone and spirit of the poem. Explain how a person's attitude toward his or her work affects the efficiency and enjoyment of her work.
7. Some critics comment on the poem that it presents a image of America that America would like to believe true-an image of proud and healthy and individualists engaged in productive and happy labor, which implies that Whitman's image may not be true. Do you agree" Explain.

Extension: Whitman's poem presents a vision of America from 1800's. Consider what a modern version of Whitman's poem would be like. Brainstorm to list some modern occupations, and then write a poem about modern American worker.

Group Five: "Women" by Alice Walker

They were women then
My mama's generation
Husky of voice- Stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headdragged Generals
Across mined
Fields
Booby-trapped
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.

1. Discuss the following themes:
   • relations between generations
   • social change
2. Identify and analyze the use of imagery and parallelism in a poem

Discuss and answer the following questions:

1. From what generation do the woman of the poem come?
2. What physical characteristics are given the woman in the first 6 lines?
3. Find three activities of these women. What three things did they discover?
4. What words and images in the poem shoe the strength of the women?
5. Explain the last 5 line of the poem. Why do you think the poet italicized the word "must"?
6. What improvements does the poem imply have taken place from one generation to the next? What has been lost?
7. Explain how sacrifice and hardship can be positive experience.

Extension: Write a lyric poem on women in the 1990s.

Group Six: "maggie and milly and molly and may" by E.E. Cumming

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriend a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles and

may came home with as mooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

for whatever we lose(like a you or me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

1. Discuss the following themes:
   • the effect of nature
   • self-awareness
2. Analyze the total effect of the poem, including the use of alliteration, assonance, and figurative language.

Discuss and answer the following questions:

1. Where did Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May go? Why?
2. What did Maggie find? What effect did it have on her?
3. Describe the item that Milly "befriended".
4. Give two details to describe the thing that chased Molly.
5. What item did May bring home? Explain the only capital letter in the poem.
6. Why do you think the speaker choose not to name the "horrible thing" that chased Molly?
7. Explain the last two lines of the poem.
8. What can we infer about the personality of each girl from what she found in the sea?

Extension: Write a poem describing a person you know or in your imagination or yourself.

Group Seven: "Dreams" "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes

Dream Deferred

Harlem
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That canot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

(a)Discuss the following theme: dream, disillusionment, poverty and frustrations. (b) Identify the use of similes and metaphors in the poems.

Discuss and answer the following questions about" Dream Deferred":

1. List the verbs used to indicate what can happen to "a dream deferred."
2. What does the mention of Harlem imply about the subject of this poem?
3. With what kind of dream do you think the poem is concerned? Identify five similes in the poem. What do you think the speaker is suggesting in each simile?
4. Interpret the last line. Why people need to feel they can fulfill their dreams?

Discuss and answer the following questions about "Dream":

1. To what does the speaker compare life in the first stanza?
2. Interpret the metaphors. What does each suggest about life?
3. Restate in your own words the advice that this poem offers. The American poet Delmore Schwarts once wrote," In dreams begin responsibilities." How might Hughes interpret this statement? Base your answer on the poems you have just read.

Extension: Write a poem reflecting your attitude toward "dreams". Base your understanding of the dream on Hughes's poems.

The Waking Year.

A lady red upon the hill

Her annual secret keeps;

A lady white within the field

In placid lily sleeps!

The tidy breezes with their brooms

Sweep vale, and hill, and tree!

Prithee, my pretty housewives!

Who may expected be?

The neighbors do not yet suspect!

The woods exchange a smile--

Orchard, and buttercup, and bird--

In such a little while!

And yet how still the landscape stands,

How nonchalant the wood,

As if the resurrection

Were nothing very odd!

V. To March.

Dear March, come in!

How glad I am!

I looked for you before.

Put down your hat--

You must have walked--

How out of breath you are!

Dear March, how are you?

And the rest?

Did you leave Nature well?

Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,

I have so much to tell!

I got your letter, and the birds';

The maples never knew

That you were coming,--I declare,

How red their faces grew!

But, March, forgive me--

And all those hills

You left for me to hue;

There was no purple suitable,

You took it all with you.

Who knocks? That April!

Lock the door!

I will not be pursued!

He stayed away a year, to call

When I am occupied.

But trifles look so trivial

As soon as you have come,

That blame is just as dear as praise

And praise as mere as blame.

. With a Flower.

When roses cease to bloom, dear,

And violets are done,

When bumble-bees in solemn flight

Have passed beyond the sun,

The hand that paused to gather

Upon this summer's day

Will idle lie, in Auburn,--

Then take my flower, pray!

VI. Song.

Summer for thee grant I may be

When summer days are flown!

Thy music still when whippoorwill

And oriole are done!

For thee to bloom, I 'll skip the tomb

And sow my blossoms o'er!

Pray gather me, Anemone,

Thy flower forevermore!

Robert Burns

My Bonie Bell

A Red, Red, Rose

N O V E M B E R 1 9 9 3

WHAT I DID ON A RAINY DAY

by May Swenson

Breathed the fog from the valley
Inhaled its ether fumes
With whittling eyes peeled the hills
to their own blue and bone
Swallowed piercing pellets of rain
caught cloudsful in one colorless cup
Exhaling stung the earth with sunlight
struck leaf and bristle to green fire
Turned tree trunks to gleaming pillars
and twigs to golden nails
With one breath taken into the coils
of my blood and given again when vibrant
I showed who's god around here

May Swenson died in 1990. Her poem in this issue is from her book Nature.

Strawberry Stuff!

Strawberrying

by May Swenson

My hands are murder-red. Many a plump head
drops on the heap in the basket. Or, ripe
to bursting, they might be hearts, matching
the blackbird's wing-fleck. Gripped to a reed
he shrieks his ko-ka-ree in the next field.
He's left his peck in some juicy cheeks, when
at first blush and mostly white, they showed
streaks of sweetness to the marauder.

We're picking near the shore, the morning
sunny, a slight wind moving rough-veined leaves
our hands rumple among. Fingers find by feel
the ready fruit in clusters. Flesh was perfect
yesterday . . . June was for gorging . . .
sweet hearts young and firm before decay.

"Take only the biggest, and not too ripe,"
a mother calls to her girl and boy, barefoot
in the furrows. Don't step on any. Don't
change rows. Don't eat too many." Mesmerized
by the largesse, the children squat and pull
and pick handfulls of rich scarlets, half
for the baskets, half for avid mouths.
Soon, whole faces are stained.

A crop this thick begs for plunder. Ripeness
wants to be ravished, as udders of cows when hard,
the blue-veined bags distended, ache to be stripped.
Hunkered in mud between the rows, sun burning
the back of our necks, we grope for, and rip loose
soft nippled heads. If they bleed - too soft -
let them stay. Let them rot in the heat.

When, hidden away in a damp hollow under moldy
leaves, I come upon a clump of heart-shapes
once red, now spiderspit-gray, intact but empty,
still attached to their dead stems -
families smothered as at Pompeii - I rise
and stretch. I eat one more big ripe lopped
head. Red-handed, I leave the field.

Claude Mckay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Dust Of Snow